Activision claims it doesn’t blacklist journalists

Last week, French videogame blog Gameblog.fr claimed that it had been contacted by Activision regarding a story about this year’s Call of Duty game. The blog claimed that Activision had threathen them with ‘blacklisting’ if they refused to take down a story about Amazon France accidentally posting a listing for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Activision has responded to the claim, insisting that it “doesn’t blacklist journalists”. This claim stands in contrast to what Gameblog.fr editor Gregory Szriftgiser has said. ” …we talked on the phone [with Activision],” he explains. “They tried again to explain they needed us to pull the article, I refused again. They insisted again that it would seriously damage the professional relationship we had, that we weren’t fully aware of the consequences this could have, and that they had already contacted their advertising agency. “I asked if we should consider ourselves blacklisted, and more precisely if my journalist was still to attend a preview event that was planned next week and to which we were already invited. “Activision said no. They also made clear that the relationship was to be severed, all advertisement plans cancelled, games not sent, and invitations to later events cancelled as well.” The publisher’s official statement: “Activision doesn’t blacklist journalists. We believe this was a misunderstanding and are working towards a resolution.”